Did you see Gok Wan’s new show last night? The chances are you didn’t if you don’t have teenagers, because it is aimed at them. If you do have teenagers, we encourage you to watch it with them – it’s excellent and very important stuff.
Gok (who we love) is ‘doing a Jamie Oliver’ to help change the way that teenagers see themselves. In the programme he interviewed a 15 year old girl who spends up to 7 hours a day looking at pictures of digitally enhanced thin women who she wants to look like. 7 HOURS!!!
Yes, that’s right, she is trying to look like something that doesn’t really exist in the real world, whilst not noticing her own beauty. And causing herslf harm by feeding her mind with unhelpful – to say the least – images.
Gok showed her that she was focusing on the wrong things, damaging herself with media lies, and managed to show her a path to recognising her own gorgeousness. Two months later she had stopped photoshopping pictures of herself and was working on developing her uniqueness; all of which made her even more lovely, healthy and appealing to her friends.
So what’s all that got to do with being a business owner?
Well, there are many things, but two main messages:
Firstly, almost everyone who answered our survey said that they needed help to stay focused to reach their Vision. So stay focused on your Vision and don’t let yourself be distracted by negative messages in the media. Seek out inspiration, good news and learning and support to help you get what you want. And remind yourself of your Vision EVERY DAY.
And secondly, ‘how to differentiate myself’ was a theme in our survey too. The quickest and easiest way to differentiate yourself is to be yourself; focus on your personal uniqueness that leads to the uniqueness of your business. Spend some time recognising your own strengths, talents, skills and experience. Trying to be like someone else can lead to dis-satisfaction and disconnect with your customers. Being yourself attracts the customers who will want to stay with you because of you.
In the words of Oscar Wilde, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”.
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